The Smart Araneta Coliseum, known as The Big Dome, is an indoor multi-purpose sports arena that is part of the Araneta Center in the Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines. It is one of the largest indoor arenas in Asia, and it is also one of the largest clear span domes in the world. The dome measures approximately 108.0 meters making it the largest dome in Asia from its opening in 1960 until 2001 when it was surpassed by the Ōita Stadium in Japan with a dome measuring 274.0 meters.[citation needed]

The Araneta Coliseum was constructed from 1957 to late 1959, and designed and built by Architect Dominador Lacson Lugtu and Engrineer Leonardo Onjunco Lugtu. From 1960 to 1963, the Coliseum received international recognition and was recognized as the largest covered coliseum in the world.[citation needed] Today, it remains one of the largest clear span domes in the world with a dome diameter of 108 meters.[citation needed] It occupies a total land area of almost 40,000 square metres (430,000 sq ft) and has a floor area of 23,000 square metres (250,000 sq ft).[9]

The coliseum opened on March 16, 1960, with Gabriel "Flash" Elorde boxing for the World Junior Lightweight crown against Harold Gomes. General admission then was 80 centavos and the reserve section was five pesos.

In the third quarter of 1998, the Aranetas and Pilipinas Shell (local arm of Royal Dutch Shell) started negotiations for a naming rights deal that would have lasted until 2008. The Aranetas, who wanted to retain their name at the arena rejected proposed name "Shell Coliseum at the Araneta Center". Instead, the parties agreed on a contract where Shell's name and logo will be painted at the arena's basketball court, a move that was almost shelved due to objections from other PBA teams because Shell owned the then-PBA team, the Shell Turbo Chargers.[11]

In 1999, the coliseum underwent its first major renovation at the cost of P200 million.[12] The major changes include the renovation of the lower box area, replacement of seats for the patron and lower box sections, and installation of a four-sided center hung scoreboard. The section names were also given numerical designations: 100 for Patron section, 200 for Lower Box, 300 for Upper Box A and 400 for Upper Box B. In 2003, a LED display was added to the scoreboard.

Additional improvements were made in 2012, including the renovation of the Red Gate entrance and the Green Gate side facade, and the replacement of Upper Box level seats, thus increasing its seating capacity.[13] The Lower Box and Patron sections were combined to make a new Patron section (100 and 200 level seats). A pathway between the former Patron and Lower Box sections was also made. The former Upper Box A section (300 level seats) was renamed as Box section and the former Upper Box B section (400 level seats) is now referred as the "Upper Box" section.

In January 2015, the Hydra-Rib basketball backboard first used in 1995 was replaced with a Spalding backboard. The backboard was first used in Game 1 of the 2014–15 PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

At the turn of the new millennium, Regine Velasquez held her iconic two-night sold out concert entitled R2K: The Concert, in support of her album R2K, on April 7 and 8, 2000. R2K The Concert which became the most attended concert at the coliseum with over 37,000 attendees, was center staged and has used the seating capacity to its 360-degree maximum.